Beastie Boys lawyer asks jury to award band $2 million in copyright case

A lawyer representing the Beastie Boys has urged jurors overseeing his clients’ copyright infringement trial to award the band at least $2 million (GBP1.2 million) in damages. In his closing arguments on Wednesday (04Jun14), Kevin Puvalowski stated that bosses at Monster Beverage Corp’s use of the trio’s songs without a license in an online video was “absolutely egregious”.
Bandmates Michael ‘Mike D’ Diamond and Adam ‘Ad-Rock’ Horovitz, who previously testified in the case, were spectators in the Manhattan courtroom as Puvalowski told jurors Monster bosses had hoped to benefit from how “cool” his clients’ had become.
The 2012 video appeared as a tribute to late band member Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch, but it failed to impress the Beastie Boys, who are very protective of how and where their music is used.
Monster’s lawyer Reid Kahn acknowledged his clients had infringed the Beastie Boys’ copyrights, but insisted they incorrectly thought they had permission to use the music.
Kahn told the court that the band’s demands for damages were “contrary to common sense”, and asked jurors to award the band no more than $125,000 (GBP78,000).